The Nameless City

By H. P. Lovecraft

Book 2 of the Cthulhu Mythos

Review

★★★☆☆

The Nameless City is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft set in the Cthulhu Mythos. It follows an unnamed narrator who discovers a mysterious ancient city and ventures deep beneath its surface.

The Nameless City reminded me of The Shadow of the Torturer. H. P. Lovecraft used a blend of real historical elements with fictional ones to build a convincing world, just as Gene Wolfe does with his archaic English and real-world locations.

When I reviewed Matter, I noted that its Nameless City was likely inspired by The Nameless City. The similarities are:

• Both cities lie buried underground and survived a “deluge”—Lovecraft’s city being literally antediluvian, while Banks’s city was unearthed beneath the Hyeng-zhar waterfall.

• Both contain ancient sarcophagi housing primeval evils that lingers across uncountable eons.

• Both stories emphasize humanity’s insignificance when confronted with these ancient civilizations.

This was an interesting short story, even though horror is not one of my favorite genres. Given H. P. Lovecraft’s massive influence on speculative fiction of all genres, I plan to read more stories from the Cthulhu Mythos to better understand his impact on the field.